For more than a year the UN Security Council has dithered, while a human rights crisis unfolded in Syria. It must now break the impasse and take concrete action to end to these violations and to hold to account those responsible.

The report calls on Russia and China to halt arms sales to Syria and for Assad regime to be referred to the international criminal court.

Clinton: "They have, from time to time, said that we shouldn't worry, [that] everything they're shipping is unrelated to [Syria's] actions internally. That's patently untrue, and we are concerned about the latest information we have that there are attack helicopters on the way from Russia to Syria which will escalate the conflict quite dramatically."

Lavrov: "We are not delivering to Syria, or anywhere else, items that could be used against peaceful demonstrators. In this we differ from the United States, which regularly delivers riot control equipment to the region, including a recent delivery to a Persian Gulf country [Bahrain]. But for some reason the Americans consider this to be fine ... [The US is] providing arms and weapons to the Syrian opposition that can be used in fighting against the Damascus government."

Clinton: "We have repeatedly urged the Russian Government to cut these military ties completely and to suspend all further support and deliveries. Obviously, we know [Russia is supplying helicopters], because they confirm that they continue to deliver .. The United States has provided no military support to the Syrian opposition, none. All of our support has been medical and humanitarian to help relieve the suffering of the Syrian people, a total of $52m so far. We have also provided nonlethal support to the opposition, including things like communications gear."

What Clinton did not say, however, was whether the aircraft were new shipments or, as administration officials say is more likely, helicopters that Syria had sent to Russia a few months ago for routine repairs and refurbishing, and which were now about to be returned.

Have they no other national interests, which might eventually outweigh this one? Now that's a question worth asking. If we are really serious about our commitment to stopping the slaughter in Syria, we in the west have to consider if there are any larger carrots and sticks we can still show Russia, even at some cost to ourselves, so as to achieve a shift in its position.

The Libyan attorney general's office said that the ICC detainees, who were organising Saif's legal defence, would be held for 45 days during the investigation, deepening the crisis in relations between Libya and the international community over the incident. The four appear to have been caught in a three-way tussle between the Tripoli government, the Zintan militia holding Saif, and the ICC over where Saif should be put on trial for alleged crimes against humanity committed during the Libyan insurrection last year.

Speaking in a video to accompany Amnesty's new report, she added: "Everyday I saw people being killed and injured."

10.00am:Bahrain: AP has the latest on mixed fate of medics accuses of treating protesters in last year's uprising.

A defense lawyer in Bahrain says a court has sentenced nine medical professionals to prison terms ranging from five years to one month in a retrial on charges of aiding the Gulf kingdom's uprising.

Lawyer Jalila al-Sayed says nine other doctors and nurses were cleared of charges Thursday. Fifteen-year sentences against two doctors who fled Bahrain also stood.

The 20-member group had been sentenced to prison terms of between five and 15 years by a now-disbanded security tribunal, which was set up by the Sunni monarchy as part of crackdowns against Shiite-led protests that began 16 months ago.

A retrial in civilian court was ordered earlier this year. Bahrain authorities accused staff at the state-run Salmaniya Hospital of siding with protesters. Medical personnel deny the allegations.

10.12am:Egypt: The post-Mubarak transition could be doubly derailed today – and we should know in a couple of hours or so. The Supreme Constitutional Court is meeting to consider whether former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq is legally qualified to stand in the presidential election this weekend, and also whether the recent parliamentary election was legally valid.

There are various possible outcomes, which Zeinobia discusses on her Egyptian Chronicles blog, though almost everyone expects the court's decision to be driven more by politics than strict legal niceties.

According to legal expert Ibrahim Yousry, quoted by Ahram Online, "it is unlikely the verdicts will mean halting the elections and reversing the democratic process because that may have serious consequences". More likely, Yousry says, these potential verdicts are being used as negotiating cards with Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate in the presidential election.

Ahram Online continues:

Political analyst Ibrahim El-Hodeiby believes the most likely scenario is that nothing will be changed, as the Disenfranchisement Law [excluding Shafiq from the presidential election] would be considered unconstitutional and the parliamentary elections constitutional.

"I think Shafiq will become president and the Brotherhood will be offered the government instead. That way the Brotherhood will be made responsible for three difficult issues including the gas cylinders crisis, the shortage of bread and the shortage of gasoline," El-Hodeiby speculated.

"In other words, the deep state [military, secret service and media] will work to make the Brotherhood lose popular support. The Brotherhood will agree to this deal because they do not want to be responsible for the presidency."

10.21am: Russia's foreign ministry has repeated Sergei Lavrov's denials about arming Syria, but it has again underlined that it does not back the Assad regime "but the fundamentals of state".

It's a distinction that suggests Moscow may be open to backing the so-called "Yemenski Variant" - named after a Gulf brokered deal to remove Yemen's president Ali Abdullah Saleh in return for granting him immunity from prosecution.

Sergey #Lavrov: Russia does not supply #Syria or any other country with special equipment that is used against peaceful protesters

Unlike the US, which supplies arms to the Syrian opposition that can be used against the Syrian government, we don't take such action.

Audio recording reveal that what he actually said was:

We aren't shipping to Syria or anywhere else things that can be used against peaceful demonstrators. Unlike the United States, for example, which regularly delivers such special equipment to the region, including a recent delivery to one of the countries of the Persian Gulf.

10.58am: The Palestinian cause "has always been and will remain the compass for the Syrian people", President Assad said yesterday according to a report from the government news agency, Sana.

He was meeting a delegation from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command, led by its secretary-general Ahmad Jibril.

Talks during the meeting dealt with the latest developments in the occupied Palestinian territories and the violations that are being daily committed by the Israeli occupation forces ...

Discussion also touched upon the situation in Syria, with Jibril stressing that the Front stands by Syria who has always stood by the Palestinian people and the national resistance movements.

The Assad regime's claims to legitimacy are largely based on resistance to Israel – which some argue is a reason not to support the uprising in Syria. In an article for the Lebanese al-Akhbar yesterday, Amal Saad-Ghorayeb wrote:

The real litmus [test] of Arab intellectuals' and activists' commitment to the Palestinian cause is no longer their support for Palestinian rights, but rather, their support for the Assad leadership's struggle against the imperialist-Zionist-Arab moderate axis' onslaught against it.

Supporting Assad's struggle against this multi-pronged assault is supporting Palestine today because Syria has become the new front line of the war between Empire and those resisting it.

The article was widely criticised on Twitter, and there is a response to it on the Maysaloon blog.

11.23am:Tunisia: Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi has called for demonstrations tomorrow to "protect the revolution and things considered sacred".

Tunisia Online says representatives of other political parties have been trying to persuade him to call off the protests, for fear they could lead to clashes with religious extremists.

Selim Abu Ahmed Ayoub, a prominent Tunisian Islamist who announced a "holy war" against the Ennahda-led government, has also called for protests tomorrow.

Ennahda has also come under fire from al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri. In an audio message posted online last Sunday, Zawahiri said:

The leaders of the Ennahda party claim to be a part of what they call moderate, enlightened Islam. Well, let them call themselves whatever they want, but they are ... one of the symptoms of our civilisational diseases.

Ghannouchi shrugged it off, saying "Zawahiri does not have any influence in our country."

The protesters chanted to demand the court uphold the Political Isolation Law, which would likely disqualify former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq from the presidential runoff scheduled for Saturday and Sunday ...

Traffic on the Nile Corniche was paralysed, with cars lined up for several kilometers, prompting police to redirect vehicles to alternative routes.

The judges arrived at the court guarded by police and army forces at 9am. Tight security measures were enforced in the surrounding area and hundreds of soldiers and Central Security Forces, with their armoured vehicles, lined up around the court.

11.59am:Syria: An army offensive in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor killed at least 11 people after the rebel Free Syrian Army destroyed at least one government tank.

An overnight barrage from nearby hills followed the withdrawal of hundreds of troops backed by tanks that had entered the city on Wednesday to root out rebels, sources told Reuters.

"Deir Ezzor was hit by a few artillery rounds during the first army attack on the city back in August, but this is the first time we have seen sustained shelling," said a source at a hospital in the city, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Two rebels were among those killed. The rest of the casualties were mostly civilians."

The shelling damaged dozens of houses on Port Saeed street and in the al-Jubeila neighbourhood, where a Ministry of Finance department building was hit, opposition campaigners said.

Two rounds fell on the site of regular rallies against Assad in the al-Hamidiyeh neighbourhood, but no protesters were there, the sources said.

Insurgents fought back against the ground offensive on Wednesday with rocket-propelled grenades, hitting four armoured vehicles. Saleh al-Shohat, a rebel commander, was killed by tank fire, they said.

The ruling will mean that a third of the seats in parliament - the ones run on a single winner system - will have to be re-contested, according to our Cairo stringer Abdel-Rahman Hussein.

1.31pm:Egypt: Today's ruling from the constitutional court means than fresh elections will have to be held for at least one-third of the parliament. The members who have lost their seats are predominantly from the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, and the Salafist Nour Party.

An administrative court said in February that the rules employed at the last election were unconstitutional – and the constitutional court has now backed its decision. In the parliamentary vote, two-thirds of seats were allocated to parties and the rest to individuals who were supposed to be independent of any party.

The administrative court judge said political parties should not have been allowed to run for the individual seats. He also said half, rather than a third, of the seats should have been apportioned to individuals.

"If it is proven that the election rules were flawed or unconstitutional, then the entire election process is void," Judge Gamal said. "It would mean that this parliament is unconstitutional, illegitimate and must be dissolved."

Although the ruling from the administrative court implied that fresh elections would be required for the entire parliament, first impressions of the constitutional court's decision are that only one-third of the parliament will have to be re-elected.

In the meantime, some are suggesting that parliament will be unable to function.

1.35pm:Egypt: The security services are anticipating protests at the court's decision to allow former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq (pictured) to contest this weekend's presidential runoff, against the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Mohammed Morsi.

1.48pm: Egyptian state TV, citing a constitutional court source, is saying that the parliamentary election held earlier this year is now completely void – not just the one-third of members who are ruled to have been elected unconstitutionally.

1.50pm: So far the anti-Shafiq protests outside the court are relatively small.

Egypt

• Egypt's political transition has been thrown into chaos by a court ruling which dissolves a third of the seats in the new Parliament. The court ruled that the system for electing a third of the MP was unconstitutiona l.

• Former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq (pictured left) has been cleared to contest this weekend's presidential run off against the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi (right). The court ruled that banning Shafiq as member of the former regime was unconstitutional. There was a heavy police presence outside the court as activists gathered to protest against the verdict. The Muslim Brotherhood said it accepted the verdict on Shafiq.

• An army offensive in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor killed at least 11 people after the rebel Free Syrian Army destroyed at least one government tank. "Two rebels were among those killed. The rest of the casualties were mostly civilians," a hospital source told Reuters.

2.52pm: Egypt: Abdel-Rahman Hussein in Cairo, reports more confusion on the extent of today's ruling.

The court ruled that a third of the seats in both the upper and lower houses were contested in an unconstitutional manner. However, the head of the court has just told Jazeera that the ruling means parliament in its entirety be dissolved.

3.13pm: Egyptian politics is prone to exaggeration and panic, Marc Lynch writes in an article for Foreign Policy. Things are often not as desperate as they seem – and yet, "today's moves by the constitutional court on behalf of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces [Scaf] seem difficult to overcome and likely to push Egypt on to a dangerous new path".

Today's court decision looks like a decisive victory for Scaf but Lynch thinks this is not the end ...

It's only the beginning of a new phase of a horribly mismanaged "transition" which is coming to its well-earned end. What's next? A replay of Algeria 1991? A return to January 25, 2011? Back to 1954? A return to the petulant slow fail of latter-days Mubarak? An alien invasion using nano-weapons and trans-Galactic wormholes in the Pyramids?

Nobody really seems to know ... but I'm pretty sure we're not going to see a return to stable CloneNDP-SCAF rule. Of course, this being Egypt, maybe tomorrow the Court will just overrule itself and we can all go back to normal ...

3.16pm:Egypt: Al-Jazeera claims to have documentary evidence that the entire parliament has been dissolved:

Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh has copy of court decision, stating that entire parliament has been dismissed due to electoral violations #Egypt

3.32pm:Egypt: The Associated Press is now saying that the whole of the Egyptian parliament has been dissolved:

The Supreme Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that a third of the legislature was elected illegally. As a result, it says in its explanation of the ruling, "the makeup of the entire chamber is illegal and, consequently, it does not legally stand."

The explanation was carried by Egypt's official news agency and confirmed to The Associated Press by one of the court's judges, Maher Sami Youssef. The ruling means that new elections for the entire parliament will have to be held.

3.35pm:Egypt: Rawya Rageh of al-Jazeera tweets that the ruling military council, Scaf, is holding an emergency meeting to discuss the constitutional court's decision.

3.45pm:Egypt: Presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq is giving a televised speech which began with the national anthem.

He speaks of a "historic ruling" by the court, which will end people using laws from their own purposes. "We will never, from now on, humiliate the laws."

"I call upon all the Egyptian voters to make sure they will practise their right in voting.

"The future of Egypt will be written now. There is no need to use threats in this democratic atmosphere.

"I am quite sure the electoral process will be totally protected by the armed forces of Egypt and the police of Egypt."

(Cheers and chanting from the crowd)

3.46pm:Egypt: Today's decision is being seen as "soft coup" by the military, a massive blow to the Muslim Brotherhood, and raises serious questions about the independence of the judiciary, says Abdel-Rahman Hussein.

In audio reports from Cairo he said all the gains made by the Muslim Brotherhood appear to be disappearing into thin air.

In the absence of parliament, legislative power reverts back to the military junta that has been ruling Egypt in the transition period. So they [The Muslim Brotherhood] have lost a big junk of what they have gained post revolution.

Many are predicting that today's ruling could help the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi in this weekend's presidential runoff, Abdo said. But he added: "I'm not really sure whether that is going to tip the balance in his favour. The predictions are that it could go either way."

Activists feel the Muslim Brotherhood has sold out the revolution, so they won't get much sympathy from the streets, he said.

What we are looking at, especially if Shafiq wins [the runoff], is a president with executive powers and the military junta that backs him with legislative powers until a new parliament is formed. In that case they will have the complete monopoly on the [formation] of a new constitution

.

Repeated questions are being asked about the independence of the judiciary, Abdo added.

Everyone considers this a politicized verdict tilted towards the state and the military junta. It comes after a series of court cases in a similar vein. The initial constituent assembly was rendered unconstitutional [by the courts] last March. There is a lot of doubt cast on the Egyptian judiciary regarding their independence and where their loyalties lie.

The two Ministers discussed the crisis in Syria. They agreed that the situation in Syria had got worse in all respects since the two Ministers had last met in Moscow on 28 May. The foreign secretary reiterated his welcome in principle for the Russian suggestion of an international conference on Syria, which he had discussed on Monday with joint special envoy Kofi Annan. The foreign secretary said that any such conference should set out the principles of a political process in Syria, including a plan for political transition in Syria and full implementation of the Annan Plan. He underlined British concern that the possibility of Iranian attendance at any such meeting was probably unworkable. It was important that the United Nations Security Council remained seized of the situation in Syria.

The foreign secretary asked Russia to use its full influence on the Syrian regime to ensure a peaceful resolution of the situation through a political process.

3.59pm:Egypt: "I will confront chaos and restore stability in the country," Ahmed Shafiq said at his press conference .

He added:

For those who will be appointed in the government, they will be appointed according to their ability. I pledge a massive project for housing. Youth centres will be all over the place.

I guarantee the right for protesting over the internet or in the squares.

Those who fear the future, those over their thirties, those who think they have lost any chance ... the chances are there. The train hasn't left the station. I will give all the facilities that will enable you to achieve your dreams and have a chance to work.

My great people of Egypt, dear sisters and brothers, I have met with thousands and thousands and I felt their problems, those who lost their jobs. I felt the feelings of a mother ...

We need to build the new country and the new Egypt. I'd like to be the president and the servant of all Egyptians.

I will repeat it. I am going into this election so as to be a servant to all Egyptians.

I am ready to co-operate with everyone. No one will be isolated or banned from doing anything. No opposition will be hurt.

For anyone who knows their religion, their proper religion, you will never be chased by the security forces. Variety is always acceptable, you will never be hurt because of your point of view. The great Egyptian society is tolerant, tolerant.

(Referring to Morsi, he describes him as a partner, not an opponent.)

Despite the campaign against me, I will continue. Despite the papers and the media of the Muslim Brotherhood still continuing claims against me, I will never change my attitudes.

I am repeating this, we need a new page for the sake of reconciliation. Egypt will be for all Egyptians a modern country, a fair country with sustainable development.

Egypt needs leadership and needs a man. When we have security the investments will naturally come to Egypt and we will move on.

4.10pm:Egypt: Shafiq's speech continues. He is making a lot of bold promises which may prove difficult to fulfil. He is officially giving a press conference, though it appears much more like an election rally.

We will protect Egyptian national security and we will help our brothers without giving up any of our rights.

We are not going to send our sons in wars where we don't have any interests.

Security is a guarantee to restore tourism that will provide us with a solid infrastructure.

Security will help us to establish the special economic zone within a new investment plan that will be marketed from the very first moment. We will have new chances for people to work – men and women, girls and boys.

A presidential commissioner will be appointed for Upper Egypt.

We will establish a special economic zone close to Lake Nasser for fishery investment which will be good for all the Nubians. Those people from Egypt are loyal to Egypt. They are described in a bad way but this is complete ignorance.

It is time for the revolution to be concrete reality. Every youth has to have an apartment or house and get it without waiting – 250,000 apartments will be built.

It's the right time to eliminate any exceptions, any favouritism, to achieve equality all over Egypt – no differences. Egyptians will be one before the law, one independent judiciary.

I renew my appreciation to the Egyptian voters of the first round. I am honoured for what you have done for me. I salute and appreciate every member of my campaign all over the country.

Egypt

• Egypt's political transition has been thrown into chaos by a court ruling which invalidates the recent parliamentary election where Islamists won a majority. The court ruled that the system for electing a third of the MPs was unconstitutional and its decision is being seen as a "soft coup" for the military.

• Former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq has been cleared to contest this weekend's presidential run off against the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi. The court ruled that banning Shafiq as member of the former regime was unconstitutional. There was a heavy police presence outside the court as activists gathered to protest against the verdict. The Muslim Brotherhood said it accepted the verdict on Shafiq.

• An army offensive in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor killed at least 11 people after the rebel Free Syrian Army destroyed at least one government tank. "Two rebels were among those killed. The rest of the casualties were mostly civilians," a hospital source told Reuters.

12.40pm ET/5.40pm BST:Egypt: In his latest audio report, Abdel-Rahman Hussein points out that in the absence of parliament, legislative power reverts back to the military junta that has been ruling Egypt in the transition period.

Now it appears that the new president, to be elected in voting on Saturday and Sunday, will pledge his oath before the military council, according to a report on Al-Jadid TV. The original plan was for the president to take the oath before parliament.

Remember when Egypt was a military dictatorship headed by a former Air Force chief? Seems so far away!

1.18pm ET/6.18pm BST:Egypt: Widely followed Egypt analyst Nathan J. Brown writes in Foreign Policy that in issuing today's ruling, the Supreme Constitutional Court moved with highly unusual speed, and he speculates that the court felt threatened by parliament.

The upshot: "Democracy -- in the sense of majority rule with minority rights -- is now losing badly":

If the details are unclear, the overall effect is not. What was beginning to look like a coup in slow motion is no longer moving in slow motion. The rulings themselves are perfectly defensible. The SCC is diverse enough in its composition that it is not anybody's tool. (Faruq Sultan, the chief justice considered suspect by some because of his past ties with the military, recused himself from the Shafiq case). The SCC clearly felt threatened by recent parliamentary moves against the court, though I do not know how much that sense of threat influenced the justices. Therefore, I do not see this as what Egyptians call "telephone justice" -- in which a call from a high official to a judge decides a case.

But that may not matter in the long run. The dispersal of parliament, the sudden constitutional vacuum, the Shafiq surge, the reversion of state-owned media, the revival of a key element of the state of emergency by a decree from an unaccountable justice minister -- all these things point in one direction. Last March I wrote that, "unless the SCAF has the appetite for a second coup, or somehow discovers a way to shoehorn in its puppet as president, the constitutional vehicle that gave the military such political authority will soon turn into a pumpkin." Now it appears that the SCAF has regained its appetite and an old-regime candidate may soon win the presidency.

The magazine calls the contest between Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq "a wretched choice." "If there were a decent secular candidate," the author continues, "we would vote for him. But Mr Shafiq, whose mantra is a call for stability and a crackdown on crime, would be a throwback to repression."

Fears that the Muslim Brotherhood would rule with intolerance and persecute minorities are overblown, the Economist writes:

Islamism in the Arab world now covers a wide spectrum; and its sensible end has fast been evolving from a radical, violent strain into a modern, outward-looking variant.... the Brothers have gone out of their way to shed intolerance and bigotry, espousing—at least on paper—rights for women and Christians, and promising not to close down bars on tourist beaches or ban the wearing of bikinis.

The magazine reasons that it's better to leap in a forward direction into the unknown than to fall backward:

If [Egyptians] opt for Mr Morsi and the Brothers, they face a future full of risks. But that is better than a return to the oppressive past under Mr Shafiq.

1.52pm ET/6.52pm BST: Lest there be any doubt, the presidential election will go forward this weekend as planned, the Supreme Coucil of the Armed Forces announces:

SCAF has just issued eagerly anticipated statement. Just one sentence. Elex to take place on time. Ok

2.28pm ET/7.28pm BST:Egypt: Morsi is on local television talking about the dissolution of parliament and the presidential election. He is not dropping out of the race, as some suggested he might in protest. He denies that a military coup has taken place.

Several viewers have remarked upon Morsi's calm demeanor. He's not agitated. He's not acting like he believes the election has just been stolen. Egyptian journalist Nadia al-Majid is watching:

4.05pm ET/9.05pm BST:Egypt: The Muslim Brotherhood has not responded to requests for clarification of its tweet "parliament is staying."

In a television interview this afternoon Mohammed Morsi said he would respect the court ruling vacating the parliament – despite his "dissatisfaction" with the decision. "I respect the court's decision, in that I respect state institutions and the principle of the separation of powers," he said.

Morsi is scheduled to speak again at 11pm local time, in about 50 minutes.

Meanwhile Mohamed ElBaradei, the former presidential candidate and Nobel laureate, has stepped up his criticism of the court decisions, calling them "a travesty" minutes ago.

Electing president in the absence of constitution and parliament is electing an "emperor" with more powers than deposed dictator. A travesty

4.15pm ET/9.15pm BST: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says there is "no going back" on Egypt's political transformation.

Clinton addressed the day's events in Egypt at a news conference in Washington with Korean officials.

"There can be no going back on the democratic transition called for by the Egyptian people," Clinton said. "Throughout this process, the United States has stood in support of the aspirations of the Egyptian people for a peaceful, credible and permanent democratic transition. In keeping with the commitments that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces made to the Egyptian people, we expect to see a full transfer of power to a democratically elected civilian government."

4.38pm ET/9.38pm BST: The Muslim Brotherhood appears not to accept the notion that the current parliament will necessarily be disbanded.

About four hours ago the group tweeted "parliament is staying." They have followed up with this explanation:

@LaurenBohnSupreme Court doesn't have the power to dissolve the parliament, it only decides on constitutionality of the laws

Morsi's first reaction to today's rulings was to say that he respects the court's decisions and loves the military.

Now Morsi is saying that court rulings are meaningless if they are not backed by the will of the people and warning that perceived improprieties in the election this weekend would throw the country back into chaos.

Morsi did not specifically address the idea that the parliament might not actually be disbanded because the court doesn't have the power to disband it.

But he shows that the Brotherhood does consider today's rulings to be a serious provocation.

6.00pm ET/11.00pm BST: We're going to wrap up today's Middle East live blog coverage. Here's a summary of the latest developments:

Egypt

• Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohammed Morsi, breaking into fits of yelling in a live TV appearance, warned that any cheating in the election this weekend would relaunch mass demonstrations. Earlier he said he accepted a court decision finding the current parliament to be illegitimate.

• The disposition of parliament is unclear. The Brotherhood stated "parliament is staying," and some legislators vowed to continue to meet, in direct contravention of the court decision.

• Morsi sought to claim the mantle of the revolution, saying that a victory in the elections by the remnants of the regime – i.e. his opponent, Ahmed Shafiq – would betray those who died deposing Mubarak. Morsi said he would give his life for the revolution.

• Shafiq made a speech of his own, promising to restore "security" if elected and saying "I am ready to co-operate with everyone. ... No opposition will be hurt."

• Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei warned that electing a president without having a parliament or a constitution in place would be tantamount to annointing an "emperor." He called the prospect of the elections going ahead "a travesty."

• The ruling Superior Council of the Armed Forces announced that the elections would proceed as planned.

Syria and Bahrain

For a summary of earlier developments in Syria and Bahrain, click here.